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 Credit: André Karwath

I really like close-up images of things. They force me to look at an object differently, to not gloss over it and dismiss it. These are grains of salt. What do they remind you of? Ice cubes? Diamonds? Fossils? If you'd like to play, just choose any topic this image makes come to your mind and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Your poem doesn't have to describe this photo. The picture is just a jumping-off point. Leave your poem in a comment, if you'd like to share it. And here are yesterday's poems. 


Evaporate my tears
and
you'll find
the
building blocks
of my
new life.

--Mary Lee

I wonder,
If I shrunk,
What would I eat?

--Lydia

SALT BAGEL EQUATION FOR AGING BOOMERS

Salt attracts water.
Water + blood = pressure
> Pressure = peril
Therefore bagel =~ death
QED

--Diane Mayr

Calcifications.
Irregular cluster.
Like entering the break room,
finding a meeting of the board.

--Martha Calderaro

So tiny
looks rather
insignificant
yet rub it into a wound,
and OUCH!
That smarts!

--melissa

Small shards
of sea glass roll
across my tongue,
tumbled by cool
gazpacho waves.

--Kate Coombs

Solid!
Are they really?
Take a closer look
You never know what you will see.

--Anne McKenna

In Daddy's Lab

Turn the knob - just so!
and magic appears
at the other end of the microscope.

--sister AE
http://havingwrit.blogspot.com

Love Song

More than
diamonds, gold
or exotic wines...
I love you
even more than
salt.

--Diane M. Davis

Fascinating
how facets
are not necessary--
light refracts,
leaving a hint
of frost.

--Kathy Q.
wordsrmylife

it's not what you think
fairy teeth
are magic
I won't share
I earned them

--Susan Taylor Brown

Couldn't Put Humpty Together Again

Things Fall Apart:
Puzzle pieces
of my life
never seem to
fit back into place.

--Pamela Ross

 


 Credit: André Karwath

I really like close-up images of things. They force me to look at an object differently, to not gloss over it and dismiss it. These are grains of salt. What do they remind you of? Ice cubes? Diamonds? Fossils? If you'd like to play, just choose any topic this image makes come to your mind and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Your poem doesn't have to describe this photo. The picture is just a jumping-off point. Leave your poem in a comment, and I'll repost it tomorrow!

Please remember to put your byline after your poem. Thanks!

 
 Credit: Creative Mom Toys

I love board games. My sister and her son visited this past week, and we played a ton of Guesstures, Uno Spin, Rock Band, Outburst, Catch Phrase, and lots of others. OK, not all board games, but you know what I mean. So I wanted to share a game picture this week.

Now, what does this picture remind you of? The huge bead necklace your toddler made for you and insisted you wear out to dinner? The time you couldn't read the subway map and just rode for hours, afraid to exit the train? The top-secret code you and your fourth-grade best friend wrote all your notes in?

If you'd like to play, just choose any topic this image makes come to your mind and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Your poem doesn't have to describe this photo. Here are yesterday's poems:


Into the maze we plunge
It has no beginning
no end
No purpose
Does it?

--Anne McKenna

 
 Credit: Creative Mom Toys

I love board games. My sister and her son have been visiting this past week, and we've played a ton of Guesstures, Uno Spin, Rock Band, Outburst, Catch Phrase, and lots of others. OK, not all board games, but you know what I mean. So I wanted to share a game picture this week.

Now, what does this picture remind you of? The huge bead necklace your toddler made for you and insisted you wear out to dinner? The time you couldn't read the subway map and just rode for hours, afraid to exit the train? The top-secret code you and your fourth-grade best friend wrote all your notes in?

If you'd like to play, just choose any topic this image makes come to your mind and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Your poem doesn't have to describe this photo. The picture is just a jumping-off point. Leave your poem in a comment, and I'll repost it tomorrow!

Please remember to put your byline after your poem. Thanks!

 
 

Credit: Studio Lévy and Sons

A week or two ago, I said, "My life is a train wreck." (What a drama queen.) Yesterday morning, I was looking for a photo of an elaborate model train set, but when I cam across this image, I had to use it. Wow. It's the train wreck at Montparnasse Station, Paris, France, 1895.

What does it remind you of? Your fear of flying? The neverending construction noise of the remodeling job next door? Dreams derailed?

Here are the poems inspired by this week's photo! 

MODERNITY

Technology changes
for better--
or worse?
if it provides
a more elaborate
way to die.

--Diane Mayr

 
 

Credit: Studio Lévy and Sons

A week or two ago, I said, "My life is a train wreck." (What a drama queen.) This morning, I was looking for a photo of an elaborate model train set, but when I cam across this image, I had to use it. Wow. It's the train wreck at Montparnasse Station, Paris, France, 1895.

What does it remind you of? Your fear of flying? The neverending construction noise of the remodeling job next door? Dreams derailed?

If you'd like to play, just choose any topic this image makes come to your mind and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Your poem doesn't have to describe this photo. The picture is just a jumping-off point. Leave your poem in a comment, and I'll repost it tomorrow!

Please remember to put your byline after your poem. Thanks!

 
 

Credit: These pix are all over the internet, and I can't find an artist or photographer credit.

I've blogged about art based on cars before, and here's a new take on it--sculptures made of used tires.

What does this water buffalo sculpture--and/or the bored-looking woman next to it--make you think of? Acne? Road rash? The car accident that changed your life?

If you'd like to play, just choose any topic this image makes come to your mind and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Your poem doesn't have to describe this photo. The picture is just a jumping-off point. Here are yesterday's poems!

(To see some more used tire art, check this out.)



If lightning strikes your car
tires save you
rubber is grounding
but crap for cell reception

--Anonymous

 
 

Credit: These pix are all over the internet, and I can't find an artist or photographer credit.

I've blogged about art based on cars before, and here's a new take on it--sculptures made of used tires.

What does this water buffalo sculpture--and/or the bored-looking woman next to it--make you think of? Acne? Road rash? The car accident that changed your life?

If you'd like to play, just choose any topic this image makes come to your mind and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Your poem doesn't have to describe this photo. The picture is just a jumping-off point. Leave your poem in a comment, and I'll repost it tomorrow!

To see some more used tire art, check this out.

Please remember to put your byline after your poem. Thanks!

 
 


Photo: Library of Congress
Map: Abraham Ortelius
 
I love maps. Something about them is very comforting. Maybe it's because I'm a person who gets lost a lot! The idea of naming and knowing places appeals to me.

What does this map make you think of? Your honeymoon to Italy? Dragons and sea serpents? A class trip to New York? The fact that the Map Reading quin of Geography in 7th grade was the only C you made throughout junior high and high school? (The last one is true for me, and it explains a lot about my navigational insecurities!) If you'd like to play, just choose any topic this image makes come to your mind and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Your poem doesn't have to describe this photo. Just use it as a starting point to get your mind going in some direction. Here are yesterday's poems!




Here be dragons,
There be dragons.
Do you ever wonder if
We be dragons?  

--Lydia

Linguistics
change and challange
our understanding,
but visual language
connects us
universally.

--Diane M. Davis

Eden and after

God...

imaginatively created,
abundantly blessed,
generously provided,
painfully sacrificed for,
lavishly loved

the world.

--Robin @ PENSIEVE
http://www.pensieve.me

No Borders

Mossy river trickles
through my eyes
Words over lips
verde
midori
green.
Same.
Feeling.
Same.

--Pat Schmatz

Cartographer's Revenge

Leviathans
the size of nations
inhabit the seas
waiting for those
without vision
to cross.

--Diane Mayr

Some pore over
carefully gridded continents.
Others recognize
the details of shifting clouds.

--Martha Calderaro

The journey of Life

Heading for a journey
endless possibilities
mapping a hundred thousand destinies
mine for the choosing.

~melissa

Advent calendar--
behind each
distorted door,
a face, new
to the world
and terrible.

--Kate Coombs

Fallen

Oh, puffed-up globe, too vain and bold,
You're now a map that I can't fold.

--Cindyb

The ends of the earth
touch
the edge--
what lies beyond
the parchment?

--Kathy Q.
wordsrmylife

I tried to learn the language

He measured
calculated
charted my skin

attempting navigation

--sheridoyle.blogspot.com

We are one

One world
different continents
different countires
different states
different towns
different families
one human race.

--Janice Harrell

the world, my oyster
allergic to shellfish but
worth the pain

I want my pearl

--Susan Taylor Brown

COME SAIL AWAY

Forget the brown land,
Let’s sail the blue.
Hop into my ship.
Just me and you.

--Kelly Polark

Stretched out before me--
Map of an ancient world
Teeming with sea serpents
And superstition.

--Elaine Magliaro

LIFE'S JOURNEY

In life's journey
There is no map
Just close your eyes
Imagination is comforting
Sometimes !!

--Anne McKenna

Although significant,
Each one of us
a dot
on the map
of the world.

--Marianne H. Nielsen

MAP WOES

Places, words shrunk
- now when I roam
need magnifier
to find home.

--Violet N.(http://book-brew.blogspot.com)

Don't Want to Know the Ending

A journey
mapped
Point A to B
A dreamer
trapped
in destiny
Fates!
Free
Me!

--Pamela Ross

What I Know About Him

fills my rectangular mind--almost

His remaining mysteries
crowd the corners

I must explore

--Laura Purdie Salas

Today's Poetry Friday Roundup is at Irene Latham's Live. Love. Explore. I'm having issues and can't get any blogspot blogs to stay open for me today. Is it just me? Anyway, I hope you go check out all the great poetry!

I don't usually write poetry. But I read "Because I Am Furniture" last week (amazing book!) and then Laura Salas sent out this 15 word poetry challenge. I thought about the amazing circumhorizontal arc I saw on Monday (thanks for the name, Maggie!) and this just came to me.

Now be gentle. I don't claim to be a great poet. But sometimes it's fun to try something different, to challenge yourself to write in a way you're not used to. This is posted on Laura's site along with a lot of other (better!) poems.

Rainbow
Wisps of color
Trick of light
Something so simple, so ordinary
Brings hope and smiles


What can YOU say in 15 words or less?

 
 


Photo: David Monniaux 

What does this image of eggs/eggshells make you think of? Basalt rocks? An onyx necklace? The Milky Way? The time robins built a nest right outside your window when you were eight? If you'd like to play, just choose any topic this image makes come to your mind and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Your poem doesn't have to describe this photo. The picture is just a jumping-off point. Leave your poem in a comment, and I'll repost it tomorrow!

Please remember to put your byline after your poem. Thanks!

 
 


Photo: Can't find photographer name
Sculpture: Dalton Ghetli
 
At IRA last week, Elise Broach showed the work of Dalton Ghetli as she spoke about artists working in miniature (connected to her new book, Masterpiece). Check out this cool carving of a giraffe in the graphite of a pencil. What does it make you think of? Your last trip to Busch Gardens? How a giraffe would make an excellent supermodel (You'd never hear the photog saying, "We're losing your neck!")? That sometimes it's easier to get UP the mountain than it is to get down? If you'd like to play, just choose any topic this image makes come to your mind and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Your poem doesn't have to describe this photo. The picture is just a jumping-off point. Leave your poem in a comment, if you like! Have fun with it! 

P.S. For more Ghetli images, click here.

Here are this week's poems:




Mistaken Identity

It's a pencil, not a pin.
Where are the angels?
Why are my feet stuck?

--Pat Schmatz

Fascinating, sure --
Eyes are all agog.
But I have to say:
Funny-looking dog.

--Randy Salas

SLOW DANCING?

Angel, Babe!
Move closer.
Closer.
Put your arms around me.
Tight.
There's plenty of room!

--Diane Mayr

Giraffes are so stately,
But what happens,
When they get sore throats?

--Lydia

Mind Migration

Roaming
graphite grasslands,
searching for paper,
where I can finally
create an oasis
of story

--Laura Purdie Salas

Starting point

Nurtured by the written word
Imaginations can be stirred.

--Cindyb

Regal,
Poised
Above the world,
Turned
upside down,
Become
written
words,
Regal,
Poised.

--Marianne H Nielsen

Silent Girraffe

Has a lot to say
Can his words be written
I think not!!

--Anne McKenna

Promise of stardom
riches and more . .
For this I left the zoo?

--Susan Taylor Brown

Lovely to look at
Tiny wonder to behold
Beware the sharpener!

--hulabunny

The Bare Necessities

A solitary journey
yet
the writer's voyage
is
incomplete without companionship
of
paper and pencil

--Pamela Ross

Searching for Plots in the Heart of Darkness

Sticking your
neck out on paper?
Easy when
you see the
end of the story

--Pamela Ross

 
 


Photo: Can't find photographer name
Sculpture: Dalton Ghetli
 
At IRA last week, Elise Broach showed the work of Dalton Ghetli as she spoke about artists working in miniature (connected to her new book, Masterpiece). Check out this cool carving of a giraffe in the graphite of a pencil. What does it make you think of? Your last trip to Busch Gardens? How a giraffe would make an excellent supermodel (You'd never hear the photog saying, "We're losing your neck!")? That sometimes it's easier to get UP the mountain than it is to get down? If you'd like to play, just choose any topic this image makes come to your mind and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Your poem doesn't have to describe this photo. The picture is just a jumping-off point. Leave your poem in a comment, and I'll repost it tomorrow!

P.S. For more Ghetli images, click here.

Please remember to put your byline after your poem. Thanks!

 
 


Photo: Luc Viatour
 
At IRA the past three days, I've been thinking a lot about connections and meetings, and this stellar photo of dew on a spider's web caught my eye this morning. What does this make you think of? A bead necklace? The view of your city at night from an airplane window? The grid of city streets? An abacus? If you'd like to play, just choose any topic this image makes come to your mind and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Your poem doesn't have to describe this photo. The picture is just a jumping-off point. Leave your poem in a comment, and I'll repost it tomorrow!

Please remember to put your byline after your poem. Thanks!

And thank you, Susan Taylor Brown (susanwrites), for hosting 15 Words or Less twice in April while I was out of town!

Here is the picture I posted yesterday, filling in for the lovely laurasalas  while she is traveling for school visits.




And here are the poems.

NO ESCAPE
My mind feels clouded,
A prisoner of life,
Will I ever escape?
Who knows!!

-- Anne McKenna

Honeycomb,
mass of hexagonal
wax, a lattice of
windows, a good day's
work won

--Kristy Dempsey

Behind an ocean of cool
concrete waves
I sigh
and hide
from summer's
punishing heat.

--sister AE

O 2 C as A flI.
multiple images
parading bI.
Just like TV,
Seems 2 B
2 many 2 name
yet, all the same.

"Repetition".
stu pidasso
30April2009

Water whispers--
saplings sway--
glimpses of a world
just
out
of
reach.
I weep.

-- dmayr wrote:

Hop, Bop, Bebop
Three young grandkids
hop, bop, bebop.
One tired Grandma
needs them to stop.

--Cindyb

Fish scales shimmer
across the sunny day;
only the dark
allows us to see.

-- Kathy Q.

Nose pressed against the fence.
Eyes, too.
Toddler wants what’s greener
on the other side.

--Becky Levine

Puzzle pieces
placed upon
nature's background.

--Marianne H. Nielsen

Laura Salas, akalaurasalas  , is off on another round of school visits promoting her new book STAMPEDE.  She asked if I would like to host 15 words or less photopoetry this week and I said sure! This is no pressure, lots of fun. If you're not familiar with it, you can read the guidelines here.

Here's this week's picture.
 

What does this make you think of? A window? A tunnel? A trap? Which side are you on?

If you'd like to play, just choose any topic this image makes come to your mind and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Your poem doesn't have to describe this photo. The picture is just a jumping-off point.  Basically look at the picture and write a poem of 15 words or less inspired by the photo. Please add your byline to the poem so I can include it in the poetry Friday roundup.

Go on. You know you want to.

 
 


Photo: Laura Purdie Salas
 
At my daughter's track meet yesterday, I strolled under the bleachers to take a few pix. I love staircases and repeating patterns. What does this make you think of? Kissing during football games? Escher prints? Homecoming? Your graduation ceremony? An arena concert? The tiny window of an old-fashioned jail cell? If you'd like to play, just choose any topic this image makes come to your mind and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Your poem doesn't have to describe this photo. The picture is just a jumping-off point. 

Here are yesterday's poems of the blue skies and hard truths of life, love, teenagerhood, and romance.




 The Real World

Life is not what it seems
Up there
I choose stone cloud
Underneath the stair

--Pat Schmatz

 
 


Photo: Laura Purdie Salas
 
At my daughter's track meet yesterday, I strolled under the bleachers to take a few pix. I love staircases and repeating patterns. What does this make you think of? Kissing during football games? Escher prints? Homecoming? Your graduation ceremony? An arena concert? The tiny window of an old-fashioned jail cell? If you'd like to play, just choose any topic this image makes come to your mind and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Your poem doesn't have to describe this photo. The picture is just a jumping-off point. Leave your poem in a comment, and I'll repost it tomorrow!

I'm offering an online workshop called Rhyme Time for writers of rhyming kids' poems. Go to this page and then click to read complete workshop info, including student references from previous classes. I have three spots left.

This was the picture I posted yesterday while filling in for laurasalas  on 15 Words or Less Photopoetry. What does this make you think of? Where do you think the keys are for all those locks? Does it make you smile?

 

Here are the poems people wrote as a result.


SHACKLED

I’m all locked up,
I don’t know why…
Better to ponder,
than sit and cry…

- Fred Higgins

PICKLOCK'S FINAL EXAM

From experience
one finds that
the key to
most locks
is not
using a key.

 - dmayr

LOCKED UP

In this room
feeling locked up
With no key
there's no escape

- Linda Bozzo

Lockdown!

"They're having a party.
Can I go?
Oh, don't be so dramatic.
Just say no."

- Cindyb

First Warm Day of Spring

Lock a year
19 years
all clicked free
Key?
one canoe
you
and
six beers.

- Pat Schmatz

Passages

In and out.
Or not out?
Who comes?
Who doesn't go?
Scattered.

- Becky Levine

My brain
Without coffee
Locked
In disarray

- Jeannine Garsee

Key to Her Heart

He searched for the key to her heart
Like so many others before him

- Rick Wainright

Laura Salas, aka laurasalas, is off on another round of school visits promoting her new book STAMPEDE.  She asked if I would like to host 15 words or less photopoetry this week and I said sure! This is no pressure, lots of fun. If you're not familiar with it, you can read the guidelines here.

Here's this week's picture.

What does this make you think of? Where do you think the keys are for all those locks? Does it make you smile?

If you'd like to play, just choose any topic this image makes come to your mind and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Your poem doesn't have to describe this photo. The picture is just a jumping-off point.  Basically look at the picture and write a poem of 15 words or less inspired by the photo. Please add your byline to the poem so I can include it in the poetry Friday roundup.

Go on. You know you want to.

 
 



Photo: Laura Purdie Salas
 
I was at the University of Minnesota's Kerlan Collection yesterday for a terrific event (more on that next week), and walking back to the car, I could see the Weisman Art Museum across the Mississippi River. This unusual building was designed by Frank Gehry, and it's a real conversation piece. I love to look at it anytime I'm on that side of town.

What does it make you think of? The recycling bin? Space aliens? An ocean-cliff hotel? If you'd like to play, just choose any topic this image makes come to your mind and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Your poem doesn't have to describe this photo. The picture is just a jumping-off point. Here are yesterday's quirky, smirky, wonderful poems!




 Escape

Pieces and heaps of junk
Slam-crammed in the stack
Slither out the river
Swim.

--Pat Schmatz

Vruumm...vruumm
matchbox builder
rearranges
breathmint tins
cardboard boxes
vruumm...
construction by
bulldozer.

--Diane Mayr

 
 



Photo: Laura Purdie Salas
 
I was at the University of Minnesota's Kerlan Collection yesterday for a terrific event (more on that next week), and walking back to the car, I could see the Weisman Art Museum across the Mississippi River. This unusual building was designed by Frank Gehry, and it's a real conversation piece. I love to look at it anytime I'm on that side of town.

What does it make you think of? The recycling bin? Space aliens? An ocean-cliff hotel? If you'd like to play, just choose any topic this image makes come to your mind and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Your poem doesn't have to describe this photo. The picture is just a jumping-off point. Leave your poem in a comment, and I'll repost it tomorrow!

Please remember to put your byline after your poem! You guys are mostly remembering this, and it does save me time on Friday mornings--thank you!

P.S. For anybody writing rhyming verse for kids, I'm leading a four-week workshop on revising your rhymed pieces in May/June. You can check out the details here. To read all the course info, be sure to click on that page where it tells you to.

 
 


Photo: Jordi Coll Costa 

What does this fan make you think of? The State Fair, with its millions of giveaway slogan fans? The Roman blinds in your grandmom's house? That fabulous pleated skirt you wore your first day on the job?

If you'd like to play, just choose any topic this image makes come to your mind and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Your poem doesn't have to describe this photo. The picture is just a jumping-off point. Here are yesterday's poems. I think it's an exceptionally varied and vivid group this week!

Judo Joy

Kata and Randori
Judoka with sensei
slap-THUNK
Sweet landing on tatami
slap-THUNK
again

--Pat Schmatz

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Monday is my online book launch party for my first trade poetry picture book, Stampede! Poems to Celebrate the Wild Side of School. Check out an invitation here. And on Monday, just go to www.stampede.ning.com. Hope to see you there!
 

 
 


Photo: Jordi Coll Costa 

What does this fan make you think of? The State Fair, with its millions of giveaway slogan fans? The Roman blinds in your grandmom's house? That fabulous pleated skirt you wore your first day on the job?

If you'd like to play, just choose any topic this image makes come to your mind and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Your poem doesn't have to describe this photo. The picture is just a jumping-off point. Leave your poem in a comment, and I'll repost it tomorrow!

Please remember to put your byline after your poem!  Thanks!